Members start year ‘fore’ in charge

Published:06:00Friday 25 April 2014

It was birdie putts that were rolling as opposed to Easter eggs when the members celebrated the start of the fourth year where the members have been running the golf courses at Letham Grange this Easter weekend.

Following the ceremonial drives performed by club captain Gardiner Arthur and lady champion Angela Crabb, 36 teams competed in the Texas Scramble competition over the Old Course.

The scoring matched the superb weather, with the top four teams only separated by 0.2 shots.

The winning team of M. Jones, C. Watt, M. Torrie and K. Barnett, scored 66 – 11.2 = 54.8, with the next three teams all tied on 55!

When congratulating the top teams and presenting the equal prizes of 12 £25 gift vouchers for use at the event sponsors, Auchterlonies, Mr Arthur said he believed his decision to award the top three teams with equal prizes had been vindicated with so little separating the teams.

On the Sunday it was the first open competition of the season, as golfers from Nigg Bay in the North to Berwick upon Tweed in the South came to take on the challenge of the Old Course at Letham Grange in the Four Ball Better ball Gents’ Open.

However, in the main it was local golfers who came to the fore with, P. Teviotdate and S. Cargill (Arbroath Artisans) teaming up to shoot the best gross, 65 and nett 64 scores to win the top prize of £100 SGU vouchers each.

They edged out S. D. and R. Abercrombie from Pumpherson Golf Club, who shot 73 (nett 66) for the runners-up prize of £50 SGU vouchers each.

As each team is only eligible to win one prize, G. Tough (Edzell) and I. Reid (Arbroath Artisans) claimed the £75 SGU voucher prizes for the best gross score of 68.

The visiting golfers were full of praise for the condition of the course, especially this early in the season.

This was in testimony to the tremendous amount of hard work performed by the club member/volunteers and greenkeepers over the winter, when all bunkers had been refurbished and drainage improvements on the course completed.

So far the club has attracted over 480 members and Letham Grange is well positioned to exceed the membership levels of the previous three years, since the members have been in control of the coruse.